Blackout
by Marjorie K. Place
Summary: When LaSalle and Brody are critically injured in an accident Pride suspects foul play. Canon but implied Brody/LaSalle friendship (Cherri)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This originally started out to be the next chapter in my Sideways Series but it doesn't fit into the category of a drabble and has potential to be much more. **

**PS, I do believe this first chapter is one of my angsty yet!**

**Blackout**

Daylight was just peeking through the thick foliage in the Barataria Wildlife Preserve, spotlighting the overturned 2016 Ford F-150 extended cab. The front end was completely crushed creating a terrifying scene of twisted metal and broken glass, while a white string of steam pressed onward up into the morning sky.

Chris LaSalle was wedged in tightly by the steering wheel and the driver's seat making him feel as if the entire front end of his truck was sitting directly on his chest. For whatever reason, the airbag had not deployed. It also didn't help that he was technically upside down and that all of the blood in his body had rushed to his already aching head.

He didn't remember the crash. He didn't even remember driving the truck last night. His last concious thought had been settling in on the couch with a beer and some wings from Chubby's to catch the final game in March Madness.

Damn, he must have hit his head pretty hard to have lost an entire night of events which evidently had included crashing the new truck. Everything seemed distorted as if he was waking up from a heavily drug induced sleep.

What in the hell had happened to the automatic emergency response system? Wasn't it supposed to send a signal upon impact? Groping around, he managed to find the release button to his seatbelt. As the seatbelt released, he should have felt gravity pulling him towards the roof of the cab. No such luck. That might have something to do with the fact that his body was literally entangled with parts of twisted metal and glass. He dreaded to think about what would happen when all of the pain hit. That point when his body and brain finally realized that something was broken or severed.

Shifting his gaze, he noticed Brody in the passenger seat, her head titled sickly against the cracked window. There was a large laceration near her hairline causing blood to run down the side of her pretty face. From what he could tell her airbag had failed too.

He wanted to call out to her but his warped sense of consciousness wouldn't let him. He felt like he was in the middle of one of those dreams where you knew that you needed to wake up but couldn't because you were helplessly trapped within the nightmare.

Briefly, he thought about trying to crawl through the small opening that used to be the driver's side window, but even through blurred vision he could see that it wasn't a viable option. He and this beautiful new truck of his had become one in the worst way possible.

Grimacing, he managed to move his right hand just enough so that it was touching Brody's. It felt cold, like the countless number of dead bodies he seen over the years and that terrified him. She was so flaccid and still. If only he could manage to wake her up. Then together they might have a chance of getting out this, whatever this was-alive.

He hoped against all odds that this really was some sort of weird dream caused by his excitement over the new truck and that the sweet but at times overly reserved woman next to him was really at home safe in her own bed or in the shower getting ready for a day at the office.

Closing his eyes he forced his head against the back of the seat. The way he saw it, he had two options; one wake up and save his own ass or pray to God that Pride would be able to utilize the GPS tracking device in this now gnarled forty-thousand dollar vehicle and get them the hell out of here. Where ever hell was.

Glancing back at Brody, he realized he was more worried about her than himself. The way her head was hanging and all the blood that was oozing out her her scalp couldn't be a good sign.

What if he had done something to cause this accident and she was already dead? If that were the case then he might as well die alongside her too.

And then her finger twitched ever so slightly brushing against his hand.

* * *

Dwayne Pride stood with his arms crossed over chest as two different sets of trauma team members worked feverishly on his agents. Normally, Pride wasn't an arm crosser but he needed to do something. Every muscle in his body was starting to quiver.

Victims of a horrific car accident, both of his agents were near death. What if he lost one of them worst yet what if he lost both of them? He couldn't see much through the closed curtains, but he could hear. The ER attendings were fighting to try to stabilize both of them.

Pride's head kept turning from the left to the right and back again as if he watching a fast paced tennis match. Orders were being spouted so quickly that it was hard to tell what was being done and who was getting what.

Then he heard it, the sickening continuous alarm sound of the heart monitor. One of his agents was coding; a flat line on a computer screen, chest compressions followed by the sound of the AED. Pride heard the flopping sound of a body being shocked rising and falling back to the table followed by the words: _again._

A calming hand ran down to the middle of his back as Loretta stepped up to his flank.

"Which one is it?" he asked.

"Christopher," Loretta placed her hands behind her lacing her fingers together. A skilled physician, Loretta could make more of what was happening than her longtime friend. Despite her faith, in the resilience of both agents she had the sickening feeling that this time it wasn't going to end well. Her gut told her they had been out in the wilderness too long without medical attention for both of them to just bounce back.

At first, it had looked like Chris was faring a little bit better than Brody but now…

Like Pride, she was literally holding her breath praying that she would hear the words _normal sinus rhythm._

Then a shout came from the other side. _This one's not breathing! We're going to have to tube her!_

Brody wasn't breathing on her own and headed for an all systems crash.

Now it was if LaSalle and Brody were in some sort of competition or maybe it was some unspoken bond between them that said, if one didn't make it, the other would refuse to go on. Pride couldn't be certain. All he knew was that he was praying that neither of them gave up.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you to all, who reviewed and put this adventure on alert.** ** Hope you continue to enjoy!**

Several hours later, Pride found himself in the ICU still waiting with baited breath. Both of his agents were still clinging to life by a thread. At Loretta's insistence, the injured pair had been placed in side by side cubicles with a collapsible partition separating the two hospital beds and the equipment that was keeping them alive.

Not surprisingly, both were suffering from a head trauma. Brody the more so, the doctor had said she suffered from a subdural hematoma; bleeding and swelling around the brain. At this point, they were hoping that medications would resolve the issue without the need for surgery.

Aside from the head trauma, Chris' injuries were more centralized in his torso and abdominal area. More precisely, he had a couple of fractured ribs, a bruised kidney and a cracked sternum from where the steering wheel had been shoved into his chest. The artificial respirator had been put into place to reduce further stress to his already traumatized heart and lungs.

How had they ended up this way? More importantly how had Chris' truck ended up in the middle of the Barataria Wildlife Preserve? What were they doing way out there in the middle of the night? Cars weren't even allowed in that area of the preserve. He had to wonder if maybe LaSalle had taken a turn too sharp and ended up tumbling off the side of cliff.

Chris was normally an excellent driver. Even in the midst of a high speed chase, he always managed to keep whatever vehicle he was driving in control. None of this was making sense.

Pride looked down at his cell phone as it began to hum from his hip. It was Abigail Borin. She was at the Jefferson-Parrish Sherriff's department, crime lab where the truck had been towed.

"Talk to me, Borin."

"Found out why the air bags didn't deploy," she told King. "They were both cut."

Cut? Someone had literally taken steps to open up the dash, unpack, and puncture the material with a sharp instrument and then put it all back into place.

At least that ruled out negligence on LaSalle's part.

"Let's dust for prints and hope we get a hit." Pride ordered, thinking about how lucky he was that Abigail had just happened to be in town and was willing to drop everything to help him with the case.

"Already done. My people are running them through CODIS now."

"Thanks, let me know as soon as something pops up." Pride shoved his cell phone into his back pocket and headed towards the nurses station where he found Loretta.

"Do you have bloodwork back on Brody and LaSalle yet?"

Loretta was pretty certain they had both come back relatively normal, given the situation, but she decided to double check. "There was nothing out of the ordinary on either one. Being that Christopher was the driver, a toxicology report was done but it came back clean."

As it should Pride returned silently before stepping back into the sanctuary of the twin ICU cubical with Loretta trailing.

"What about Chloroform?" Pride asked over his shoulder. It was hard to trace. He knew it was a bit old fashion, but at this point he wasn't going to rule anything out. Chloroform was known to cause cardiac distress. If Chris was doused with too much that could explain the undue stress on his heart at the time of the accident.

"Unless someone had the knowledge to mix it with Diazapam it's highly unlikely." Loretta placed her hands on her hips. It was known fact to medical professionals that it took over five minutes to knock someone out with the now ancient anesthesia. She shuddered to think what would happen to the person trying to hold Chris or Brody down for that long."

"Can ya check for it?" Pride asked, sounding a bit desperate.

Loretta gave her old friend a subtle nod. Since Chloroform was technically an inhalant she would be able to spot signs of it the nasal passages and in the throat. But at the moment given the agents current state it would be difficult to trace. If she had to place money on it, she would bet upon close examination she would find puncture wounds or perhaps a blunt force trauma that was caused prior to the accident.

Pride stared pensively at his unconscious friends. He was about to say something when he heard a low moan coming from Chris. It wasn't much but it was enough to give Pride new resolve. "He turned his head," he told Loretta.

The corners of Loretta's mouth twitched as she watched the younger agents eyes form into small slits and then blink. Reaching down to bed railing, Loretta pressed the call button. In a few moments, Chris was going to realize that there was a tube down his throat and he would start to gag and when that happened she wanted to be ready.

Chris came out of it with a start, his entire body twitching.

"Just take it easy," Loretta soothed watching as his dark blue eyes went wide and suddenly shifted with fear. He wanted to swallow but he couldn't. He attempted to raise his shoulders off the bed only have Pride's hand anchor him back down.

"Listen to Loretta," Pride said firmly as a nurse with dark hair appeared at Loretta's side.

"Christopher, this is Bethany. She's going to help me take the tube out of your throat." Without warning, Bethany tugged on the tape that was keeping the tube securely in place, making Chris wince.

"On the count of three, Dr. Wade's going to pull out and I need you to cough as hard as you can. Ready?"

Chris' expression went totally blank. He still felt like he was trapped in that weird dream state.

"Blink, if you understood what she just said, Christopher." Loretta added as Pride gave his shoulder a squeeze.

Chris blinked and Loretta began to count. 1,2,3!

Chris coughed for all that it was worth, until he felt the relief in his throat as it opened up in freedom. For several minutes, he gasped taking in huge gulps of air, followed by intense coughing.

"Just breath," Loretta soothed taking a hold of his free hand. "Pride's here and I'm here and you are going to be just fine."

When his breathing finally returned to normal, the perky nurse Bethany began to ask him a barrage of questions.

"What's your full name and when were you born?"

Chris stared at her for several seconds before turning his head toward Pride. There was only one question to answer and he was going to ask it. Swallowing, he felt a slow burn in his throat from where the tube had left it inflamed and raw.

Unable to form a complete sentence, he simply said one word that came out in the form of a wheeze.

_Brody._


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:_ Thank you again, for the lovely comments and alerts. I promise, I'll continue to update as fast as I can. I think this chapter will answer some of the questions as far as the mystery is concerned. _**

_Brody._

Pride moved slightly creating an opening for Chris to see through the space that separated him from the sleeping beauty. The bulk of her face was covered by the respirator, making it hard to see her gentle features. He wanted to see her sweet smile and the twinkle that lit up her eyes. He wanted to her to be alive and well.

Feeling his throat begin to constrict with emotion he closed his eyes and turned away from Pride. Everything that he had hoped was a dream had been real.

"She's tough," Pride said placing a mollifying hand on the younger agent's shoulder. "You're both going to get through this."

* * *

Abigail Borin walked into the ICU with LaSalle's camera in hand and evidence kit ready. Pride had asked her to see what trace evidence she might be able to gather from Brody. Though the thought was unnerving to say the least, she couldn't deny she felt a bit honored by Pride's request. He wanted someone who would be thorough in the collection but at the same time would treat his agent with dignity and not like a rotting soon to be corpse.

Pausing at the curtain, Borin glanced across the room at LaSalle. Abigail wasn't used to seeing the friendly and at times overly active agent so still. After only a few minutes of consciousness Chris had drifted off again. Not that unusual considering the trauma that he'd been through, but it was concerning.

Averting her attention, Abigail smiled softly at the woman in the bed before setting the kit on the over the bed table. "This is a hell of a way to start your week," she quipped drawing the camera to her eye level.

Abigail posed the camera and took a direct shot of Brody's face capturing the broken capillaries in her high cheekbones.

"How's LaSalle holding up?" She asked as Loretta entered the small space and drew the curtain.

"He's still pretty out of it. But the good news is his vitals have improved greatly over the last few hours." Chris wasn't out the woods by any means, but doctors were hopeful that he was on his way to making a full recovery.

"Has he said anything at all?"

"Not yet, but I suspect once the initial shock wears off he'll be able to give us something."

Abigail nodded before pulling the camera back to her face and captured a couple more shots, before moving to towards Brody's left arm. Several lacerations covered her forearms where the broken glass had sliced through her flesh.

Brody's right arm had been set in a cast due a fracture at the wrist. For the moment, they were assuming that it was the result of a defensive wound caused by the effort to protect her face from the crash.

"Where are her clothes?"

"They're in a bag on that chair over there," Loretta pointed before pulling back the blanket to inspect the bruising on Brody's neck and upper chest.

Abigail crossed to the bag, "yoga pants, a tank top, and tennis shoes," an interesting combination for someone who normally dressed in a professional manner when seen with her partner.

"What was Chris wearing?"

Loretta paused for a moment, "something similar; t-shirt, sweat pants, I believe."

It was a known fact that Chris ran most every night to relieve the stress from the horrific things that they encountered on the job and that Brody occasionally taught aikido and yoga classes at the Y when her schedule allowed.

"What about shoes?" Abigail asked, noting an absence footwear from Brody's bag; one shoe to be exact."

"That's where it gets interesting," Loretta said, explaining that Chris had been wearing a standard pair of running shoes, but that Brody had been found with only one. Pride had gone over to Brody's cottage to see if could find the missing shoe.

Abigail held up the shoe from the bag and looked straight at Brody, "Ok, Cinderella what aren't you telling us?"

Unknown to Abigail, Merri Brody could hear every word but was hopelessly trapped inside a broken body that desperately wanted to heal. Her heart started to accelerate as Abigail's voice brought on flashes of the truck tumbling over the side of an embankment. Unconsciously, her body began to twist and jerk in an effort to suppress the violent memory.

* * *

_Merri Brody's eyes went wide with fear, as she felt the truck, slip from the road. There was nothing she could do. Even though her mind was as clear as a bell, her body wouldn't move. She was paralyzed, unable to move even a single muscle. Her partner was already unconscious at the wheel, from a head trauma. She wanted to scream out his name, but she couldn't. Her vocal cords were literally numb, deadened on purpose in an effort to keep her from fighting back. _

_She'd fought her attacker with everything she had and for a moment it looked like she was going be victorious, until she decided to take him down with a fierce kick. Her foot was ready to connect with his face when he suddenly caught her ankle, knocking her off balance. Her shoe sailed across the room, as she fell flat on her back. He was on her in a matter of seconds, straddling her. He followed up quickly with a jab straight to her throat, temporarily cutting off her airway. Struggling to catch her breath, she never felt the pin prick of the syringe that would send the paralyzing liquid into her veins. Every muscle was hopelessly dead, unable to obey her minds request continue the fight. Her eyes seemed to be the only the resolve, in what was happening to her as he hefted her over his shoulder and carried her like a sack of potatoes before throwing her into the back of the truck next to LaSalle._

_Oh God, Chris! Was he dead? She was looking right at him but his eyes were closed. Desperately, she wanted to reach out and touch the side of his face, to see if he would respond but she couldn't, her muscles refusing to cooperate. _

_She was still wide awake when the monster who had stolen her ability to move secured her into the passenger's side of Chris' truck with the seatbelt. Glancing at Chris she was thankful he was unconscious as she realized what the monster was going to do to them. In fact, there was a small part of her that prayed he was already dead so that he would never know what they were about to go through. _

_Have a nice ride, Agent Brody. _

* * *

"What's happening?" Abigail asked softly, her own heart pounding fear.

"She's having a seizure," Loretta pressed the call button on the wall and began to spout orders. "We need a doctor in here immediately! The patient is going into a Grand Mal seizure!"

Borin backed out from the small space, crossing back into Chris' side of the room as another doctor and a couple of nurses rushed in surrounding the fallen agent. The taller of the two nurses, released the latch to the collapsible wall pulling it almost all the way shut.

Abigail was so engrossed in what was happening with Brody that she almost didn't notice that Chris had been awakened by the sound of Loretta's voice. Briefly she averted her eyes until she saw Nurse Bethany enter the room to check his vitals.

* * *

"What's happenin'?" Chris asked in a weak version of his famous drawl. This time around he was alert enough to know that something was seriously wrong with his partner.

"Your partner seems to be having a bit of distress," Bethany replied as if she were talking to an idiot. I'm sure she'll be fine in a minute." Reaching over him, she wasn't prepared when Chris' hand shot up catching her wrist.

"What kind of distress, exactly?" Chris asked his dark blue eyes boring into hers. Granted, he didn't have much strength, but what little he had right now was all focused on the flippant woman before him. He hadn't really meant to hurt her, as much as he wanted an answer about Brody.

"Let go of me!" She seethed, yanking her wrist free. She was about to call for help when Abigail intervened. The female version of Gibbs, kicked herself for being drawn into the intense scene on the other side of the room. She should have been paying more attention to LaSalle. Of course, he was going to be over the top with fear over what was happening to Brody.

"She had seizure but it's over, now." Though it had seemed like hours, Brody's seizure had only lasted a couple of seconds. The doctor had ordered an injection of something and all but Loretta were now leaving the room, as Abigail eyed Bethany to do the same.

Borin watched as the tension and fear started to drain from LaSalle's body.

"Are ya sure?" Chris wouldn't put it past Borin to lie if she thought it was for his own good. He would apologize to the nurse later but for now, his only concern was Brody and her survival.

"Positive," Borin gave his forearm a squeeze as her phone started to buzz. It was one of her colleagues, "I've got to take this." she added stepping out into the hall.

"Please tell me you have something," she breathed pulling the phone to her ear.

"We got a hit on a partial print," the voice of a longtime associate relayed prompting, Abigail's mouth to twitch.

"I'll call Pride and let him know."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Once again, thank you for all of the new alerts! This little story is growing quite the fan base**!

Chris LaSalle tried to fill in the missing pieces of the accident as he sat in the bedside chair, looking over at his partner. It had taken all of the energy he had to pull himself out of bed and walk the twenty steps across the room to where his snow white lay sleeping as if she were waiting for her prince. Even at her worst she still looked amazing. Behind the cuts and bruises were the high cheekbones and beautiful porcelain skin that made her so beautiful.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't do more to protect you," Gently, he brushed the uninjured side of her face with his index finger. He would have moved Heaven and Earth to spare her the horror of their accident had he remembered it. But all he could recall was waking up after the fact. The truth was Chris LaSalle would never remember the minute details that he so desperately needed to fill in the blanks because he hadn't consciously lived through them. He would only remember the anguish and pain of having to wait for what seemed like hours for help to arrive.

Profusely, he apologized unaware that his words were prompting the missing pieces to flood Merri Brody's mind.

* * *

_Chris! Brody silently screamed out her partner's name as the truck started to tumble down the embankment, rolling several times. Although she had been secured by the seatbelt, Brody still felt her body slam back and forth between the dash and the door like a Ping-Pong ball. Unable to control her movements she was helpless to brace herself against the glass and debris that were shredding through her skin. When the truck finally stopped, Brody was seeing double, but even so she was still willing to fight. _

_Anger coursed through her as she looked over at her partner. Desperately, she wanted to reach out to him, but she couldn't. The sleep paralysis would have to wear off at some point and when it did she would fight tooth and nail to get them out of this. Being the only one who had actually seen their attacker, she had to survive, she would survive. _

_Hang on, just hang on. _

* * *

"You really care about her don't you?" Bethany had appeared from nowhere, or maybe LaSalle just hadn't been paying attention.

"She's my partner. We're federal agents."

"So, how long have you been in love with her," Bethany challenged earning a heated look. "I could tell by the way you grabbed my wrist."

Unconsciously, Chris felt his signature grin slip across his face. He had yet to figure out his feelings where Meredith Brody was concerned. They might turn into something one day, or they might just be the the bond that existed between partners finally starting to surface. Either way, it wasn't something he was ready to explore yet.

"I'm not in love with her and I'm sorry if I hurt ya earlier."

"Don't apologize," Bethany smiled her hazel eyes growing wide. "I'm all for true love and romance, but it's time for your medication, so I need you back in bed. Not to mention, you're on restricted movement, with a cracked sternum you could risk doing further damage to your heart and lungs. So, I'm going to have to curtail your date here with Miss Brody."

"I told you-"Chris began only to have her cut him off.

"If you get out of bed by yourself again, I'm going to have to restrain you."

"I'd like to see you try," Chris quipped watching as she rolled her eyes.

"Don't tempt me."

* * *

The partial print came back to a man named Carson Meacham, an aspiring chemist in his mid-thirties, and by chemist Pride meant, the self-made kind, the Walter Whites of the world.

Meacham, sounded like a guy who should be running for office, and not a guy wanted for questioning about the attempted murder of two NCIS agents. But as Pride had come to know over the year's murderers came in all shapes and sizes.

Weapons trained, Pride shouted a warning and kicked down the front door of a three bedroom ranch style house, nestled off in the backwoods just outside, NOLA. Moving in sync, Pride and Borin combed through the house until they came across something quite unnerving.

Both Pride and Borin stared at what appeared to be in LaSalle speak, a wall of crazy. Three pictures formed a perfect triangle: Pride at the top, Brody and LaSalle at the respective corners. Above Pride's picture were the words: _Death to the King_. Brody and LaSalle's picture were "X" out in what looked to be blood.

"Somebody doesn't like you," Borin commented trying to ease the tension.

"The feeling is mutual," Pride returned noting a small vile left on the small sofa back table below the pictures. It was the kind of vile that doctors used to fill syringes. Pride eyed the vile for several seconds before slipping it into the pocket of his jacket. He would have Sebastian analyze it later.

Pushing forward, Pride spotted a laptop, sitting on the kitchen table. Someone has recently used this." Pride said, moving the mouse to bring up the desktop. Scanning the icons, three file folders caught his eye: Pride, LaSalle, Brody. Meachum had a file on all of them: personal information, medical history, likes, dislikes and their achievements at NCIS. He knew all of their strengths, weaknesses, and intimate details of their personal lives.

This was more than a little disturbing Abigail thought as they managed to open a subfield with a link to the hospital's medical records; the plan of treatment for both Brody and LaSalle was staring her right in the face. Damn this guy was good! Not only had he been able to hack into their records, but he'd also been able to make changes to the medication log. At first, she thought it was nothing but then a thought occurred to her.

"Hey Pride. By chance is LaSalle allergic to sulfur drugs?" It was just a hunch, but given the list of drugs that had just been added to LaSalle's plan of treatment, she had a sickening feeling.

"Deathly, why?"

"We need to get back to the hospital now," Borin started to explain when she caught a figure in her peripheral vision come down the stairs and bolt out the front door.

"Call Loretta and explain your theory!" Pride ordered giving chase.

Loretta was in her lab, performing an autopsy when her phone rang. "Agent Borin!" she beamed cheerfully into her hands free system. "What can I do for you?"

"Are you with Brody and LaSalle?"

"Not at the moment, but I checked on them both a little while go. They did another cat scan on Merri-"

"I need you to get back up to the ICU. Don't let anyone give them anything unless you administer it yourself!" Borin cut her off filling in vague details. She knew she would have to explain the rest later but right now, she needed Loretta to get back to the fallen agents.

* * *

Loretta caught the first elevator to the ICU. When she arrived Bethany was standing over Chris injecting something into his I.V line.

"STOP!" Loretta shouted, watching the slender nurse push all the way down on the plunger before discarding the syringe. Loretta immediately started to move toward Chris intent on removing his IV, only to be stopped by the appearance of a 22 in Bethany's hands.

Raising her hands, Loretta could only watch as Chris' hand shot up grabbing at the gun. The stupid woman, he couldn't believe that she had fallen for that again. Yanking on her arm, he pulled her over the bed railing, straight into his lap, Bethany's fingers still fast on the trigger as the gun discharged.

"Christopher!" Loretta yelled as crimson started to stain the sterile bright white of the sheets.

**Whoops! Lots of questions here! Brody is the only who knows who the baddie is!** **Who is Pride chasing? Who took the bullet? Chris? Loretta? Evil Nurse Bethany? Let me know your thoughts! **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: You are all are amazing! Here, I thought I had taken a wrong turn, but your reviews tell me otherwise! Thank you for taking the time to comment and put this story on alert. Also, thank you to pandorablueskies for the medical advice. To Guest who wants more Chris whumping: Not a problem. You might also want to check out my Sideways series.**

**Thank you to those who continue to ask for quick updates. I really typing and plotting as fast as I can. ;) So appreciate you all!**

Loretta hesitated for a moment. Having recently been a victim of gun violence she stood frozen for about half a second, as alarms started to go off. She was only about three feet from the bed but it might as well have been three miles. Two still bodies were slumped over one another. In her experience, this usually meant someone was dead.

And the blood, where was it coming from? With Bethany laying over Chris it was hard to tell. Loretta's only saving grace was that the woman wasn't moving. Her mind started to tick with all of the possibilities, Chris had managed to pull the petite woman over the bed railing, in doing so had her hand curled in on herself when the weapon discharged? If, so she would have a bullet in her abdomen or in her chest. But it her arm, had remained straight, then Chris LaSalle was more than likely bleeding to death.

Prioritize, Loretta she coaxed reminding herself that she could play the part of the medical examiner later. Right now, she needed to play the part of the doctor and save Chris.

The IV! Given the fact that Bethany had been packing a gun, it was a safe bet that the syringe had contained something life threatening. Frantic, she yanked the tape that was holding the IV port into place on the back of his hand and pulled out the tube that was feeding the poison into his system.

"Hold on, Christopher. Just hold on." Loretta pleaded, ordering an injection of epinephrine as an assortment of hospital personnel began to enter the room.

"Hurts to breathe," Chris wheezed uncertain if the pain was due to his already injured chest and ribs or the woman that was lying on top of him. He was fairly certain that she had been the one to take the misfired bullet but given the amount of pain he was in it was hard to tell. The agony in his chest made it feel as if both of his lungs had suddenly turned against him. He wouldn't realize until much later that it was actually the fact that his throat was closing up due to the onset of anaphylaxis.

He knew he shouldn't move but he needed the dead woman off of his chest. Wriggling about, he only managed to cause himself more pain as he attempted to remove the one hundred pounds of dead weight.

"You need to be still," Loretta scolded, fearing that somehow in all of the commotion he had managed to shove one of his broken ribs into a lung or worse. He could be bleeding internally and wouldn't even know it. Judging by the monitor his pulse and oxygen levels were dropping fast.

Fear began to devour her as an unknown hospital personnel began to swarm around Chris and Merri. Inwardly, she knew that the majority of them were good caring people, but there was always that one what if. What if there were another Bethany in the crowd she thought as Borin's words came back at her

She needed a plan.

* * *

By the time, Pride had arrived the entire room had been sealed off, police were roaming everywhere. Hospital policy dictated that the facility be placed on mandatory lock down.

"Loretta!"

"Loretta!" Pride's voice sounded frantic.

"In here, Dwayne." Loretta's voice echoed as Pride and Borin ducked underneath the yellow crime scene. The room was wreck. Borin was the first to notice the empty beds. Both Brody and LaSalle were gone. "Where are they?" she asked Pride as his eyes shifted to the blood on the bed.

Pride heard her, but was still focused on the blood in the empty bed. Thankfully, the body lying on the floor was that of the nurse who had been treating Chris and Brody, and not one of his agents.

"Christopher and Brody. Loretta, where are they?"

Loretta looked around cautiously making sure she was out earshot to any hospital personnel. "They're in the morgue with Sebastian." She whispered as not to be overheard, while the color drained from her colleague's faces. She could understand their fear given Chris and Brody's current location. As it turned out, the morgue had an overflow section which had been utilized during Hurricane Katrina to house the bodies that the rest of the hospital could not accommodate. It wasn't much to look at, but with a little tweaking, it could be used as a fully operational hospital room in a pinch.

"With the exception of Christopher recovering from a near lethal injection and a punctured lung, they are both fine, relatively speaking of course." Shortly, after the staff had removed Bethany's body, Chris had been whisked away to the operating room where under Loretta's watchful eye, doctors had inserted a chest tube to repair the pulmonary damage caused by one of the broken ribs.

"Relatively speaking," Pride repeated, placing a hand of relief on his old friend's shoulder. Although, Loretta's actions were a bit morbid for his tastes, it was actually the perfect idea for drawing out the would-be killer.

What if he announced to the world that LaSalle and Brody were dead? It would be one way to keep them safe. If today was any indication, they needed protecting more than ever.

"I'm going to talk to our suspect and try to figure out what the connection is between him and nurse dead body here," Borin said softly as they started to move from the room. When the call had come in about Bethany trying to kill Chris, the suspect that Pride had apprehended had almost been forgotten.

"I'll be there as soon as I check on Chris and Brody," Pride smiled wrapping an arm around Loretta.

**AN II: My apologies for the short chapter, and the lack of Brody's thoughts but this seemed to be a natural stopping place. Can you just imagine what Chris and Brody will say when they wake up in the morgue?**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I only thought it was fitting to include Loretta in this canon style fic. Glad everyone was receptive to her cleverness!**

Fearful and sickly looking brown eyes were pulled from a deep sleep at the sound of the gun fire. She could hear a familiar voice but couldn't quite place it. She tried to swallow only to find that a cruel tube had been inserted into her throat. She felt like she was going to choke. Hospital personnel were starting to enter the room, yet no one seemed to be paying attention to her.

Her fists started to ball up in panic as she realized she couldn't speak. Desperately, she wanted to call out to anyone who would listen but she couldn't. She tried to see over the bulk of the respirator but the size of it blocked her view.

She was helpless. And why wasn't anyone paying attention to her? Tears started to slither down her face, chasing one another, prompting the need to hiccup: her chest jumping involuntarily. It happened again and she felt like she was going to choke.

There was so much commotion in the room, so much panic, that she thought she would swallowed whole. She was literally going drown in her own tears and no one was going to notice. Finally she gave up and started to thrash about, the midst of a panic attack. Alarms started to go off and she heard the sound of another familiar voice, well it was more of wheeze but clearly it brought her a sense of comfort.

_Go, check on Brody!_

She felt like she should know this voice but she couldn't picture the face that went with it. If only her mind could clear! Relief was finally hers as the face of a kindly woman, leaned over and took ahold of her hand.

"Hello Merri, we've been waiting for you."

Brody forced herself to focus on the face that was looking over her. Was this woman a doctor? Dressed in blue scrubs and a colorful hair net, it was hard to tell. But one thing was certain. This woman seemed to care about her.

She continued to hold the woman's hand until an accompanying team had successful removed her from the ventilator. Gasping she took in a huge gulp of air, feeling her lungs expand. Everything hurt, she thought as rational thought started to return.

"Merri, do you know who I am?"

Brody's forehead crinkled as she looked at the middle age woman before her. She should know her she thought, pressing her mind for the answer but her brain didn't seem to want to cooperate.

"Dr. Wade!" a strange voice called out.

Dr. Wade?

"Christopher needs me right now," the woman she now knew as Dr. Wade said. "He's having some trouble breathing. We have to take him up to surgery. But I'm going to leave you with Sebastian."

A large face with glasses and curly hair invaded her personal space almost making her want to curl in on herself as he let out a Wookie style yell.

"Chewbacca is glad you are back."

"Star Wars?" She said her voice barely a whisper wishing the fog that surrounding her brain would dissipate, as he prepared for her bed to be moved. A few moments later, she was moving down the corridor into the elevator.

The strange man, Dr. Wade had referred to as Sebastian was babbling incessantly about the most obscure things, preventing her mind from being able to focus on the things it should. She vaguely remembered some sort of accident but could only place bits and pieces of the details.

Fear gripped her as she realized her assigned escort was taking her to into the morgue. "Why are we here?" she asked as Sebastian unlocked a door that would lead to her new room.

"Doc Wade's wicked sense of humor."

Brody looked at him through uncertain eyes.

"Someone just tried to kill LaSalle," he reiterated.

LaSalle, the name sounded familiar but she couldn't place the face. "Who's LaSalle?"

Sebastian turned his head to the left and to the right. For once in his life he was at a loss for words. Was she kidding? Raking his hand over his mouth, he started to speak slowly as if that would have some sort of bearing on her memory.

"5'9, good looking, has an affection for the ladies, carries a gun, plays with Legos and talks like this." Brody looked at Sebastian incredulously as he attempted to imitate, LaSalle's southern drawl, failing miserably.

Exasperated, Sebastian finally gave up in defeat. "He works with you and Pride at NCIS. The three of you run about the City catching bad guys together while Dr. Wade and I put the pieces of the mysteries together-"

"He wants a whole basketball team of kids," Brody said absently as Sebastian stuck out his bottom lip.

"Never heard that before, but ok. You know do that genetically, he's too short for that to actually happen because in basketball you have to be-"

"I got it," Brody put a hand up silencing any more he might want to say. She wasn't sure where the bit about the kids and a basketball team had come from but it was something.

* * *

Abigail Borin was standing in the bullpen, researching on the plasma screen when Pride walked in, looking a little grim. "How are Brody and LaSalle?"

Pride took of his jacket and laid it over a chair. "LaSalle is still unconscious and Brody, well, she's having trouble remembering everything." He said watching Borin give a somber nod. "What did you find out from our suspect?"

"Something very interesting." When faced with attempted murder charges, Carson Meacham had been very cooperative. "As it turns, out Carson Meacham and his wife, Bethany are part of an internet website following."

Abigail quickly typed in web address. Pride could only watch as his face appeared on the screen with the words scrolling across the page_. Kill the King_. "There's a bounty of half a million dollars on your head." Borin explained. "Seems like Meacham and his wife were looking for a way to spice up their marriage and plan for their retirement at the same time."

Pride closed his eyes. "What about Brody and LaSalle?"

"Two hundred, fifty-thousand a piece." Abigail added. "It seems that our nurse dead body, AKA Bethany Meacham was able to get her hands on a paralytic and when given with a medication known as midazolam, causes temporary paralysis and anemisic effects."

"Meacham's wife drugged Brody and LaSalle and then he put them in the truck." Pride finished, earning Borin's approval.

"Pretty sick."

Pride blew out a tense breath. "Where are we on finding out who runs the website?"

"Patton's working on it." Borin replied. "But if you were serious about having Brody and LaSalle declared dead, we can use Meacham to help us draw out the owner; for a reduced sentence course."

Pride rolled his eyes. "Of course."

**A/N: a little side note. Brody's confusion is caused from the accident itself and not the drug. The question is how long should her confusion last?**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Sorry for the delay. My muse was thrown completely out of whack by last week's episode.** **Hope this chapter is up to par with the rest. Again, you all are so amazing for reading my little adventure. **

Within a few hours, Pride had managed to set up a newscast with the local stations to report that Brody and LaSalle had both died from injuries suffered in a tragic accident. Chris LaSalle and Meredith Brody were no more. Pride had even gone so far as to set up a public memorial service for the agents in hopes of drawing out the mastermind.

"Pride, we've got something," Abigail kept close watch on the website as it began to light up with user comments, and likes.

"That's extremely disturbing," she sighed as the faces of Carson and Bethany Meacham's avatars appeared, declaring them the winners of $500,000 dollars for eliminating the pair of agents.

All Pride and Borin needed to do now was to get Meacham to agree to collect his prize.

* * *

Brody looked across the room at the man who was sleeping in the bed next to hers and wondered about the large ace bandage that covered the length of his left forearm. Lorretta had filled her in on the rest of his injuries but his arm remained a mystery.

_The sun was up in full now making Chris wonder exactly how longer they were going to have to wait for help to arrive. From what he'd been able to tell judging by the amount of light that was now streaming into the demolished cab of the truck, it had been least 3 hours or better. _

_Chris didn't know where they were but judging from the fact that they had yet to be found it was no place good. He needed to do something he reasoned, glancing over at Brody and wondering why it was that she had yet to move. _

_As hopeless as it seemed, Chris had to try something. Rearing his arm back he pushed his elbow into the remaining glass in the driver's side window until the skin on his forearm was nothing but blood._

_There was a first aid kit with a burner phone in the extended cab, it he could just manage to get to it he might be able to call for help. Unfortunately that illusion was all in his mind as he tried to pull himself free from behind the steering wheel. A scream ripped through him as he only managed to injure himself further in trying to pull his broken body free from the wreckage. _

* * *

Chris was startled awake by the sensation that someone was watching him. Turning his head, he saw two large brown eyes studying him intently. "Brody?" he managed as the sights and smells of their new accommodations began to tease at his mind.

He recognized this place he thought as the last bit of the anesthesia began to wear off. "Are we in the-"

"Morgue" Brody finished for him.

Chris knew he ended up here someday but he didn't think he'd still be alive when it happened. Oddly enough, the reality of the situation did not surprise him as he recalled trying to take down the nurse that had threatened Loretta.

The morgue was her sanctuary, her safe haven.

"Are you okay?" he asked Brody noting the look of uncertainty in her eyes.

"I don't know, you tell me." She replied as Sebastian came barreling in to engulf LaSalle in giant bear hug. Brody could only watch as the man she had been told was her partner failed miserably at holding back a cry of pain at the sensation of broken bones protesting human contact.

"Sebastian-" Loretta called out drawing out his name.

"Oh sorry," Sebastian apologized as he released LaSalle and straightened to his full height. "I'm so glad you're back!" he added before attempting to fix the rumpled sheets.

Loretta's big smile overshadowed Sebastian's excitement as she moved closer to the recovering agents. "How are you feeling, Christopher?"

"Pretty good until just a second ago." Chris shot Sebastian a murderous glance causing the lovable forensic scientist to shrink.

"I'll see about getting you something for the pain." Loretta was about to leave when Brody began to clear her throat, prompting her face to change. Loretta extended her hand, slightly.

"Agent Brody is having some trouble remembering things clearly", she explained to Chris earning a WTF glance in exchange before turning her attention back to the amnesic agent

"Merri, this is Chris, you and he and work together."

Brody stared at the man beside her as a wave of unrelated conversations and scenarios came flooding back in tiny pieces.

_LaSalle was wrestling, a young kid of all of 17 to the wall when she walked in to the bar with the man she had been told was called Pride. _

_"__Does anyone have a set of handcuffs, I could borrow?" he asked pressing his forearm up against the kid's neck._

_Do you always start your morning off in bar? She asked handing him the cuffs as he started to grin._

_"__This is New Orleans; it might be daylight but the evening's still young."_

"Drink much?" Brody felt the interrogator in her begin to rise up; the need to question and pick apart every little detail was yearning for answers.

"Excuse me?" Chris looked at her strangely, before turning his attention back to Loretta. The WTF look clearly plastered over his face. That he could remember, he hardly ever drank in front of Brody, he had bragged about his Krew Kraw during Mardi Gras but he didn't think it had amounted to much as far as his partner was concerned.

"Just roll with it for now." Loretta made an easing motion with her hands knowing it was possible that Brody's mind still hadn't caught back up to present time.

LaSalle averted his glance back this partner flashing his signature grin. "Depends on your definition of _much._"

Back to square one…

* * *

"He's agreed to plea to a lesser charge," Borin walked briskly keeping in step with Pride as they arrived at the exchange site hoping that Carson Meacham would lead them to the person behind the website.

"How lesser of a charge?" Pride held out his arm, commanding her to stop as Meacham came into view.

"Assault."

Pride took off his sunglasses so that Abigail could see the anger in his eyes. "He tried to kill two federal agents and nearly succeeded."

Getting into position, Pride pulled out his weapon, ready to spring into action once the transaction was complete. Borin did the same. Together they watched as Meacham took a seat on a park bench. A few moments, later a woman wearing a scarf and donning dark glasses sat beside him, with a large duffle bag at her feet.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sigh...I know it's been a while since my last update. I blame the muse.** **As you all know, she tends to wander if we aren't able to write consistently. **

He's agreed to plea to a lesser charge," Borin walked briskly keeping in step with Pride as they arrived at the exchange site hoping that Carson Meacham would lead them to the person behind the website.

"How lesser of a charge?" Pride held out his arm, commanding her to stop as Meacham came into view.

"Assault."

Pride took off his sunglasses so that Abigail could see the anger in his eyes. "He tried to kill two federal agents and nearly succeeded."

Getting into position, Pride pulled out his weapon, ready to spring into action once the transaction was complete. Borin did the same. Together they watched as Meacham took a seat on a park bench. A few moments, later a woman wearing a scarf over her head and donning dark glasses sat beside him, with a large duffle bag at her feet.

Eagerly, they waited for the woman to pull to her feet and walk away.

"Touch the bag," Pride said softly as if he were coaching Meacham. He needed the man to open the bag so that he and Borin could verify the exchange of money before going after the woman.

Hesitating, Meacham waited until the woman was a good several feet away before pulling the bag into his lap and opening it to check the contents.

Borin and Pride had just started towards him when they heard Meacham cry out the word; _Bomb!_ The man couldn't get away fast enough as the satchel exploded in his hands, leaving a burned and trembling body to fight for life as a reward for his attempting to kill the two agents.

Instinctively, Pride shielded Borin with his body as debris started to fly. Borin felt Pride's body tense as hot splinters of wood from the bench Meacham had been sitting on rained down on his back and neck. They weren't close enough to thrown from the blast but still caught the majority of the fragments.

"Well, that was mighty chivalrous of you," Borin quipped when Pride finally released her.

The smell of a burning body wafted in the air as they started toward what was left of Carson Meacham. "He's gone," Pride confirmed as something caught Borin's keen eye.

"Dwanye, take a look at this," Kneeling she began to pick up small pieces of confetti that were imprinted with a lion's head.

Sasha Broussard. Now it all made sense. She was already in jail for her dealings with Jenks and the Navy contraband scheme which meant he couldn't touch her. Sure, he would add the attempted murder of two federal agents to her list of charges, but he would be denied the satisfaction of actually wiping the smug look off of her face when he arrested her. The memory of actually bringing her in for the other would have to suffice for now.

* * *

Loretta walked into the back room off of Sebastian's lab to the find the man child trying to engage her two patients in a game of cards, Magic of the Gathering, to be exact. "How are my two favorite agents getting along this afternoon?" she beamed, saving them from the over excited forensic scientist.

"Bored out of their damn minds," Chris tossed out thankful for the rescue. The idea of playing magic cards with Sebastian was driving him insane.

Brody looked at him with a mischievous grin. "Aw, c'mon LaSalle you must have played magic cards as kid."

"Never," he relented as Loretta approached him and quietly slipped something into his hand.

Saint Christopher's Medallion. "Thanks," he smiled putting it on. "I've been wondering where this was."

Brody looked on curiously sensing something familiar about the band that was now hanging around his neck. "My sister used to have a leather choker just like that."

LaSalle looked at Loretta who in return gave him a nod.

"You gave it to me." He said watching Brody's face contort with a smile and mixture of confusion. At the moment, she found the idea almost laughable. Her sister's necklace was one of her most valued possessions.

"Why would I do that?" she asked watching as LaSalle averted his eyes.

Both Loretta and Sebastian were staring at her now, giving her the feeling she had said something wrong.

"Christopher recently lost someone very close to him." Loretta said, placing her hand on Chris' shoulder in a show of support. It had only been a couple of months since Baitfish had gunned down his childhood sweetheart and although most days were good there were still times when he thought the pain would swallow him whole.

Brody thought for a moment as an awkward silence filled the room. "Savannah," she said finally, earning a small smile of approval from her partner.

"That's right."

Slowly, the events of the past year were starting to come back, Brody sighed inwardly, happy that she had a real breakthrough. Although she still didn't understand the depth of her relationship with LaSalle and the rest of the team she felt comfortable enough to know that they cared about her enough to include her as family.

* * *

**2 Days later…**

**Women's Detention Center**

"Dwayne, Dwayne, Dwayne," Sasha Broussard sighed as she looked down at the tiny scraps of paper bearing her former company's symbol. "Why on Earth would I want to go after your people? Now, tell me what good would that do?" Her former business partner had already done that and left quite a gaping hole in the NCIS team.

"I don't know," Pride countered. "You tell me."

Sasha sat back in her chair, looking smug. "I've got nothing to say except that I'm happy that agent LaSalle has been reunited with his girlfriend. And you're other agent, what was her name? Brumley?"

Pride's nostrils started to flare as he pulled to his feet, palming the small table that stood between them. "I'm not here to play games with you, Sasha. I'm here to let you know, that you're going down for murder."

"You think that scares me?" Sasha retorted, twisting a piece of her long brown hair. She was already going down for the murder of the prison guard she and Jenks had hired to kill her brother Frank so what was one more?

"You have a lot to learn about me, Dwayne." She added as he straightened to his full height, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why don't you enlighten me a little me then?"

"Well, for starters, I didn't try to kill your people. As you already know, I prefer not to beat around the bush. Second, if I was trying to kill them, I wouldn't advertise it on a website!" Sasha was raised old school. When someone needed to be removed, you either did it yourself or hired a well reference professional.

Pride pondered for a moment. If it wasn't Sasha then who was it and why would they use her company logo?

"A niece or nephew maybe? Someone from Messier's family perhaps? It had to be someone with knowledge of his history with the Broussard's.

"What about Ashley's kids?" Ashely Broussard had been killed in a boating accident in 2010, leaving behind two young teenage children. They'd be in their late teens now and possibly curious about the family business.

"They're children," Sasha scoffed. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm always serious," Pride replied, formulating an idea. It was time for Brody and LaSalle to come back from the dead.

**A/N: I love Sasha don't you? It was always the plan to include her in this little adventure in some way, shape or form. **


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: You all are so wonderful for sticking with me!** **I am really touched by the reviews for the last chapter. After taking a more than a little break, I thought you all would have forgotten about this one.**

Chris handed Brody her sister's necklace. "Here, you can have it back."

"No, I gave it to you." she replied uneasily pushing it back in his direction.

They say blackouts are porous, that in time memories come back in time. At least that's Loretta had told her. But Merri Brody was beginning to doubt that. She felt so damn guilty for not remembering that she had given LaSalle her sister's necklace.

She understood not being able to remember the accident, but the memories leading up before it. Why were they suddenly gone? And why where they only the ones connected with her life here in New Orleans.

She sighed as she watched her partner slip the necklace back around his neck. "So, Savannah she was your…" Damn it. If she could just remember something else besides the woman's name.

"I don't like to talk about it."

"Talking helps."

Chris couldn't help but shake his head, "Look, we've already had this conversation once. I'm handling it in my own way."

Merri pursed her lips. "I didn't mean to pry. I was just trying to fill in some of the blanks."

"She was my girlfriend. We met in high school." He replied resigned. He had to admit, he felt a little selfish for keeping the details from her, but the truth was he hadn't told her much about Savannah the first time around, other than she had been Cade's counselor.

"She was his mermaid," Percy quipped appearing in the doorway. "What the hell's going on here? I go away for a coupla of days to find out the two of you are dead?"

"Car accident," LaSalle supplied as he tucked the medallion minus the choker into his pocket.

"So, I've been told." She also knew about the website and was a tad insulted that she wasn't on it. "Now, are you two ready to get out of here?" In her hands, Percy held a duffle bag packed with a clean set of clothes and toiletries for each. Pride was expecting them all back at the office to watch as his plan to catch a would-be-cop killer came to life.

Thirty minutes later they were all standing in front of the big screen watching a special report that Pride had set up with the local media.

_In local news today, infamous, crime family member, Sasha Broussard has now been charged with the murders of two federal agents. NOLA PD discovered evidence linking Broussard to the murders through a website that had been established seeking murder for hire candidates. This marks at least the four murders that Broussard has been connected to this year. _

When the report was over, LaSalle looked at Pride confused. "So, Sasha was behind this?"

Pride turned off the monitor. "No, she isn't. My hope is that whoever is behind the creation of the website will step up and want to take credit." His theory was that Sasha had been set up to take the fall, so he just played along with it.

"In other words, they won't want to see Sasha get all of the glory for killin' us," LaSalle concluded.

"What about the website?" Brody added.

"The website is now being heavily monitored by Patton and NOPD. Heavy traffic patterns have linked several users. It took some time, but Patton was finally able to connect all of the bouncing IP addresses to a local cafe here in the Garden District."

_ "_So, all we have to do is sit and wait," Borin answered entering through the kitchen with a cup of what she deemed as nasty coffee in her hands.

"Borin and I'll head down to the café and see if our killer shows up," Pride said, "Percy, I want you to go check out the Broussard kids, make sure that Sasha was telling truth when she said they wouldn't have anything to do with this."

Pride flicked his gaze over to Brody and LaSalle. He could already see the question forming on LaSalle's lips. "What do you want us to do, King?"

"Stay here, hold down the fort, get to know one another again and learn things." Pride saw a blush start to creep up, Brody's cheeks but ignored it. Technically, neither one of them was ready to be put back into the field so for the moment, he needed to continue to keep them safe. He would use them later, to set the final blow if and when they caught the killer.

When everyone had gone, Brody moved over to LaSalle who saw fit to start going through the pile of paperwork on his desk. "Well, you heard Pride, we're supposed to get to know one another again."

"And how do you suppose we do that?" he replied flipping through a report that he had left unfinished on the day of the accident.

"How do you feel about crosswords?" she quipped wickedly.

LaSalle pondered for a moment recalling the first time he met Brody. She had asked him for a 3 letter word for the word mistake. "I suppose it makes sense being that's where we started."

* * *

"It could be anyone of these people, " Borin droned as she surveyed the number of WI-FI users sitting around them. There were at least a dozen or people using laptops and tablets. They ranged anywhere the very young to the elderly, none of which looked like killers.

"But at least the coffee's good."

Pride gave her a quick grin as he monitored the website on his Microsoft Surface Pro 3. There had been little activity since the announcement of the new charges against Sasha, a few comments here and there about the disappointment of his demise, but that was it.

Sick people, most of them rebellious teens he assumed. Pride was actually a bit saddened by the fact that there were people in his city who wanted see his reign as King end. Tearing his eyes away from the tablet for a moment, he looked at Borin.

"What you say when this over, I treat you to the best Cajun steak and shrimp you've ever had?"

Borin snorted softly, nearly spitting out her coffee. "Are you asking me out on date?"

"Let's call it a reward for a job well done." Pride felt a sprint of heat start to crawl up his neck. "I couldn't have gotten this far in the case without you."

"Look at you, you're blushing!" she teased as their moment was cut short by the presence of new activity on the website. Someone was making changes to the site."

Big red letters with dripping blood began to scroll across the page. _Propaganda! Sasha Broussard is a fake!"_

Pride sprang to his feet with Borin following suit, "Check everyone, and confiscate computers if you have to!"

"It's not here," Borin sighed in defeat as she returned the last of the laptops and tablets she had collected. The web history on the all of the computers, showed zero activity for the infamous website.

Pride looked around the café, one more time, in pensive thought. "What if it's coming from across the street?" Directly across the street was a Veteran's monument with benches that had been set up for quiet reflection. A woman in her mid to late twenties appeared to be busily posting something to her phone.

"Stay here." Pride made his way across the street, pulling out his badge. "Excuse me, Miss. May I see your phone?"

Wild eyed, the woman, hastily closed the screen she had been scrolling, and slid her hand into the backpack that was sitting beside her. "Pinterest, it's addicting," she smiled dropping the phone before pulling out a .22 and firing at Pride from close range, the bullet hitting him point blank in the stomach.

Titling her head the woman watched with a sadistic smile as he pressed his hand to the wound and drew away blood before crumpling to the ground in a heap, of bleeding and quivering defeat. Whirling around she was unprepared when Borin appeared from behind her, weapon trained.

Stilling smiling, the woman dropped the gun and put up her hands. "The King is dead."

"For your sake you'd better hope he isn't," Borin roughly cuffed the woman and shoved her aside before falling to her knees to help Pride.

"It's a good thing, I don't listen to you," she quipped as she stripped off her jacket and pressed it to his oozing wound. "And in case you're wondering, I definitely want that dinner you promised me, so don't you go anywhere. "

Somewhere in the pain of it all, Pride managed to slip his hand on top of hers, giving her a small smile before his eyes started to droop, dragging him down into the darkness.

"Pride!" Borin shouted out his name, unable to keep her voice from clouding with emotion. "Pride!"

**A/N: I bet you all thought that I only did things like that to LaSalle. Mawhaha!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Quick update as promised!**

Brody stood in front of the large double green doors, blocking LaSalle's way. "Pride said, we have to stay here."

That was before the man had been shot.

"Move out of my way, now," he barked in spiteful and demanding tone. Despite the fact, that he was still weaker than a newborn kitten and his body still spiraling in pain with every breath. He was in command now. Being the senior agent, in the NOLA office the protocol had always been for him to take over when King wasn't able to perform his normal duties.

Brody felt her jaw clench against his tone and came back with some words of her own. "Chris, there is no way you can drive and you can barely move." Broken ribs, fractured sternum, the man was still a mess. She herself would drive him, if it weren't for the fact that her right arm was in a cast.

Eyes blazing, he leaned into her. "This is King. I need to go to the hospital."

Brody lowered her eyes. Even when her memory was intact she never understood why Chris was the only person to call Pride King or why Pride insisted on calling him, Christopher, even though that was his given name.

Releasing a sigh, she raised her eyes meeting his intense blue ones. "I know you want to be there but you…we can't, Borin, Percy and Loretta are there. They're going to let us know everything that's going on."

"You don't understand," he ground. It was his responsibility to tell Laurel and to take her to Pride. He had to be there. He had to protect her. That was his job, a pact that he and Pride had set up long ago.

"I do. I know that Pride is like a surrogate father to you and that he saved you, from something…although I can't quite remember what. I also know that Savannah was shot inside your house and you're still hurting over that because you loved her and that you're probably scared to death of losing Pride too.

Wow, where did all of that come from? Brody couldn't believe that she had rambled on like so fluid and so clearly.

Chris' face twisted in unleased and unresolved anger. She was right. He was almost to the breaking point. He wanted to hit something. His best friend, his mentor was in the operating room possibly dying from a bullet wound to the abdomen and he was stuck here, powerless to do a damn thing.

"I'm callin' a cab." He retorted as Percy walked in with the shooter in cuffs.

"Dead men don't go around calling cabs." Percy pushed the woman into a chair. "And before you ask, no I won't drive you over there, and don't you even think about asking to borrow my car!"

LaSalle said nothing.

They had work to do. King would want him to stay and learn things.

Is this the woman who shot Pride? Brody asked moving closer, intrigued. Not that she didn't believe it, but the woman was barely five feet tall and maybe all of 21. Could be a year or two in either direction.

"As we live and breathe." Percy quipped. "Not very bright however, considering Agent Borin caught her in the act."

"I did what I had to do! To get vengeance for my father!" the young woman yelled, earning their undivided attention.

"Who's your father?" LaSalle tossed out, curious to know.

The girl smiled wickedly as the agent moved closer. "You know him very well. So, well in fact you tried to bullet in his head! He should have killed all you!"

Three sets of confused eyes looked at each other, searching for the answer. The only person that Chris had recently tried to shoot in the head was-

"You Father was Paul Jenks?" The idea hit LaSalle like a ton of bricks.

"Damn," Percy swore under breath. She had worked for the man for almost a year and didn't even get so much as inkling that Baitfish had a daughter. To his credit, he had done an excellent job of keeping her a secret from the world.

"All of you should be dead!" The woman was crying hysterically now.

"Why?" Brody challenged. "What did we do that made your life so miserable?"

Hiccupping the woman choked out the words. "Dwanye Pride made certain that I never had a family. He didn't want my father to know that I existed…"

Percy's dark eyes were wide, her face sporting a WTF?

"How did Pride do that?" Brody asked gently.

"He convinced my mother to go into witness protection and because of that we lost everything. I never even met my father!"

"So, how did you find out about him?"

The woman hung her head. "A few weeks ago, I got an envelope in the mail with some pictures and newspaper articles, so I started researching and then I found this woman who knew my dad."

Brody was kneeling now touching the young woman's forearm. "What woman?"

"Sasha Broussard. She helped me set up the website and told me that she would take all of the credit but that I had to get Pride. "

Deafening silence filled the room. Sasha had played them again from the depths of a prison cell.

* * *

**Three hours later…**

Chris LaSalle watched as Laurel Pride leaned up against her boyfriend, O'Rion closing her eyes as their fingers laced. O'Rion was gently stroking the side of her face whispering something too for Chris to hear.

Pride had just been brought out from surgery and was in recovery. Loretta told them that he was lucky but that the small caliber bullet had done a fair amount of damage resulting in the loss of King's spleen.

All in all he was expected to make a full recovery he just hadn't had time to wake up yet. His body was busy trying to recover from the trauma.

Brody stepped up next to LaSalle as he continued to watch over Laurel. "I don't know about you, but since we can't see King for a while what do ya say we go get some real food?" The idea that they were actually still in the hospital waiting on another meal, made her stomach yearn for anything that wasn't bland and accompanied by Jell-O.

Chris' brow furrowed. "Did you just seriously refer to him as King?"

"Is that wrong?" she asked, touching his forearm.

An easy grin spread to his face. "It's just kind of my thing, but I'm willin' to share."

Brody smiled back at him, letting her hand slide down to align his. Although she was still missing a few memories, she was willing to make new ones.

Taking her cue, he tangled his fingers in with hers. "Now about that dinner?"

"Your choice," she grinned knowing that they would have to keep in within walking distance or pay the horrendous price of cab fare.

* * *

**48 Hours Later.**

Abigail Borin walked into the ICU to find several brightly lit white candles and a neat place setting for one. "What's all this?" she snorted smiling at the man in the bed. Despite the fact, that Pride was one day out of surgery from a bullet wound he looked pretty good.

"The dinner I promised you."

Abigail lifted the lid from the warming containing and inhaled deeply allowing the rich aroma of cajun style steak and shrimp with a side of jambalaya to fill up her senses. "It didn't come from here did it?"

"I had Loretta pick up it for me." Pride said as she noticed the ice bucket and the wine.

"She smiled teasingly, picking up the glass. Not that I'm opposed it but I'd rather not drink alone."

"I have Ginger Ale," Pride quipped lifting up a plastic cup.

Abigail pulled the bedside chair up the over the bed table and picked up her fork. "I'm not that good at sharing but this time I'll make an exception."

"It's okay," Pride nodded, "I'd rather watch you eat."

"Suit yourself," taking her knife, she cut through the steak, before shoving it into her mouth. "This is tasty."

For several minutes, Pride just watched her eat, enjoying the way she chose to attack her food. "You know I meant what I said earlier," he said when they made eye contact.

Borin picked up her napkin and dabbed the corner of her mouth. "You sound like you want me to stick around."

I'd like that. There's always room in the budget for another agent."

Abigail lowered her head, recalling an earlier conversation they'd had about her retiring from the Coast Guard and coming aboard NCIS. "You know I still have several months before I can retire. But if your divorce from Linda were to become final, I might be enticed to visit more often."

Pride lowered his head for a moment, smiling. "C'mere" he beckoned, piquing her curiosity. Slowly, she rose upward, leaning towards him, meeting his gaze. In his eyes, she saw uncertainty and longing. He had been in love with Linda for years, decades, and though she had never thought of herself as an insecure woman she had to wonder. Would she measure up?

Strong and confident, Abigail Borin, the female equivalent to Leroy Jethro Gibbs suddenly felt her lip begin to tremble as his hand snaked behind her neck, his lips ever so lightly brushing over hers.

"Linda and I are already divorced." he whispered running a hand through her hair.

"Then we need to work on somethings." Borin smiled touching the side of his face.

"Like what?"

"Well, your kissing for one," she quipped, "and there's a matter of coffee. If you want me to hang around more often…"

"Are you sure, I can't convince you to try the Chicory again?" he grinned sealing his mouth over hers, in a purposeful and well orchestrated kiss.

"Not a chance," she said into his lips before pulling away to finish her meal. "But we could always make a compromise."

**Fin! Thank you for the wonderful support and reviews but it's time to bring this adventure to a close. ** **Until next time MKP! PS, let me know what you all think of Borin and Pride, (romantically linked or not) as there could be more adventures in the works...**


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